1. In Sunday school we were singing 'I've got the joy, joy, joy'. After we sang the 'down in my feet' verse, in which we stomp, Trooper decided to make up his own verse, the 'down in my butt' verse, complete with hiney wiggle. Yeesh. Later, during the worship time, one of the songs had the word 'duty' in it. Trooper thought this was hilarious, and sang the rest of the song 'dooty, dooty, dooty'. I imagine this would be funny to any four-year-old who's obsessed with all things regarding poop, toilettes, various forms of gas, and body parts that are covered with underwear, but it was still distressing.2. We were playing Apples to Apples with some friends and I won the card, so I said to Daniel, "Oh, yeah, give it here."So Daniel passed the card and the game continued, but I became aware of Trooper behind me saying, "Say you're sorry, say you're sorry, that's rude." Then I realized that he was talking to me.He persisted, so I finally translated what he was saying to everyone and then apologized for 'being rude' to Daniel. Everyone laughed, and the game continued again, except that then Trooper was asking, "You forgive him? You forgive him?" By which he meant to say 'Ask him to forgive you.' So I felt I had to interrupt the game again to ask Daniel if he forgave me, which he graciously did, and then we were able to play in peace.It was a funny thing, but also telling. It showed that Trooper really is picking up the lessons we teach even though sometimes it seems like it's all going over his head. Asking for forgiveness is a difficult thing for anyone, so I'm glad he's getting used to the idea, now. It'll help him a whole lot later down the road, especially if and when he gets married.3. Trooper as he lifted my pant leg to see my shin: Mom, your leg is ashy.4. To speed up the dressing process with Trooper, who is unfailingly picky about what he wants to wear, we started giving him just two or three options and making him choose one. After doing that for a while, he started going to get his own options and bringing them to me for me to chose from. Soon after that he started bringing me clothing items and then picking whichever one I didn't pick just to be contrary. Now days he usually just goes in and gets his own things without asking me, which is great as long as he doesn't pick his one remaining pair of ripped jeans when we're going out in public. But today he cracked me up because he brought me three pairs of underwear to chose from, and they were all exactly the same white (with a tinge of pink like almost everything else in this house that's supposed to be white) briefs. I said, "But they're all the…" and I stopped when I saw that familiar mischievous sparkle in his eye and realized that he thought this was funny. So I said, "That one," as I gestured vaguely at the undies in his hands."This one?" he lifted the second pair."Yep, that one."He got to where he couldn't stop laughing as he confirmed which pair I wanted several times on his way back to his room. And to think he was probably only making sure so he wouldn't accidentally put on the underwear I picked.I consider myself to be a mildly mischievous person, and Jonathan slightly more so. Trooper got as much as both of us put together, and maybe more.For regular doses of Trooper, subscribe.